When it comes to the census, it pays to be counted. The next big census is less than three years away, and a lot is at stake for New Mexico. Besides being used to determine voting districts, data from the 2020 census will translate to almost $3,000 coming into the state per person, per year for the next decade.
Albuquerque Journal--The Healthy Workforce Ordinance that Albuquerque voters will soon decide will give our businesses an edge in attracting the best workers from cities and states that do not have similar provisions to help their workforce – and their communities – stay healthy. Albuquerque voters should pass it. Read more
New Mexico’s governor is responsible for expanding Medicaid here, and it’s had significant economic and health benefits for the state. So where is Governor Martinez on this issue? We don’t know because she hasn’t spoken up.
We should be very clear: what Trump and Republican leaders in Congress are proposing is not tax reform. Trump has touted it as a recipe for job creation and economic growth but its naked favoritism for the wealthy will do nothing to promote either.
Diana was nervous as she spoke to the nearly 400 people gathered at our 5th annual KIDS COUNT Conference. As part of the panel discussion on women’s economic security and child well-being, Diana shared her frustration when, after a decade of working in the early education field and rising to the level of assistant director, she was still earning minimum wage. Her only raises, she said, came from changes in minimum wage laws. But this wasn’t the part of her story that I found most powerful. What really stuck with me was when she told us about having to become a single parent after surviving a domestic violence attack.
There is generally much less accountability when private companies run government programs. It becomes not only more difficult to determine just how our tax dollars are being spent, but there is also more room for subtle forms of discrimination to take place. By definition privatization means an economic focus on the use of public lands rather than a conservation and equity focus.
NMPolitics.net--The proposed SNAP cuts equate to $120 million a year that won’t go to your local grocery stores and farmer’s markets. The lost Medicaid dollars won’t go to your doctor, the clinic where you get your health care, and the local hospital. When low-income families don’t get the SNAP and Medicaid benefits for which they qualify, they do without or choose expensive options like the emergency room. They don’t have extra money for emergencies.
Kansas just wrapped up a 5-year experiment in governance from which the other 49 states can now glean some important lessons. The Kansas Legislature has voted to roll back much of the 2012 package of tax cuts that sent the state into a downward spiral of financial instability and weakened the Kansas’ public schools, universities, Medicaid program, and virtually everything else that the state funds.
Economists say it again and again: investments in higher education pay off. Unfortunately, Governor Susana Martinez’s decision to veto all funding for higher education—every penny—sent the wrong message to current and future college students worried about college costs as well as to businesses reticent of investing in a state that does not value education.
Bipartisan collaboration and, more importantly, time and responsible leadership are required to undertake tax reform this large. Please, governor, stop taking us for a ride and do your job.